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The Music

(A special thank you to Richard D. Cappetto
(RickDC@AOL.com) for ferreting out the
additional "gold" and "platinum" status on
the Web!)

1969

That first album released in 1969 was called
On Time
and gave evidence for the powerful, bluesy, funky
style that had made Grand Funk so popular at the
festivals. Some of their critics like to point to this
album as an example of how simple the band was.
However it contains many great songs -- some of which
have become classics. There were even two hit singles
from this album:
Time Machine
and
Heartbreaker.
And, of course, the album went gold (10/12/70).

Late in 1969 the trio came out with their second
album. This one, simply entitled
Grand Funk,
showed that the band had further developed their
heavy, blues-based style. Anyone who decried the first
album should have been immediately converted by this
one which is, to this day, one of the most popular LPs
with the hard-core Grand Funk fans. Although there was
no hit single from this album, the track which
covered the song
Inside Looking Out
was a popular FM staple for many years showing some
classic and innovative guitar work by Mark Farner.
This album also went gold (7/6/70 -- Platinum on
12/3/91).

1970

Another album quickly followed in mid 1970 which showed
a more mature song writing ability. Moving away from
a blues-oriented style towards something more
rock-oriented, this album quickly became a favorite
among many different types Grand Funk fans --
especially its orchestrated title track called
Closer To Home.
This song became the hit single off the album and
remains a "classic rock" standard to this day. In fact,
this album was a staple in Capitol's catolog for many
years and was the first Grand Funk album to make it
into CD format. And, as you might have guessed
this album also went gold (8/12/70 -- Double Platinum
on 2/12/92).

Believe it or not, the band managed to put out another
album before the end of 1970. This fourth record was
a live recording and simply entitled
Live Album.
The album was able to capture some of the real magic
of a Grand Funk live performance -- especially in the
innovative and classic drum solo from Don Brewer in
T. N. U. C.
Every Grand Funk fanatic mentions this album as a
classic, style-defining epic record of what truly
made the band popular and is a must-have for every
serious fan. The hit single from this album was the
live cut of
Mean Mistreater
which had been a track on the previous studio album.
And Grand Funk had yet another gold album to their
credit (11/23/70 -- Double Platinum on 12/3/91).

1971

In 1971, Mark, Don, and Mel went through a sort of
transition in their studio work. It isn't so much
that the music changed -- they were still very
rock-oriented (losing a bit more of their blues
heritage) -- but more that the production
quality changed. Instead of trying to convey the
powerful, bluesy feel, their fifth album -- entitled
Survival
-- showed a more refined and professional kind of
production in its recording. And, the lyrics from
this album started showing a little more depth. Hit
singles included covers of
Feelin' Alright
and
Gimmie Shelter
and, of course, the band had another gold album on
their hands (4/30/71 -- Platinum on 12/3/91).

The sixth album also came out in 1971 (six albums in
less than three years!) and was distinguished by its
round, coin-shaped cover. It was in this album that
the trio started showing some social consciousness
with one song that was aimed at protesting against the
Viet-Nam war and another that lamented problems with
the environment and over-population. The hit single
from this record was the powerful and fun
Footstompin' Music
as the album show-cased some innovative, musical, and
lyrical bass work by Mel Schacher. Although the album
cover was rendered in a distinctive coin-colored silver,
it too eventually turned to gold (11/29/71 -- Platinum
on 12/3/91).

1972

It was after the sixth album that trouble beset the
band. Disagreements arose between Mark, Don, and Mel
and their manager Terry Knight. In the words of Don
Brewer: "We were naive kids and we had signed our lives
away -- he was making everything and we were making
nothing." The disagreement expanded into litigation
which continued throughout a good deal of 1972 and 1973.
This gave Grand Funk a much needed rest but Capitol
Records wasn't going to sit by and watch idly. In
1972, Capitol released a double compilation album
entitled
Mark, Don & Mel
which, without the benefit of a hit single, also went
gold (6/8/72). During this respite Craig Frost joined
the band on keyboards.

The band "arose from the ashes" late in 1972 with their
eighth album entitled
Phoenix.
Craig Frost's keyboard work allowed Grand Funk to
achieve a fuller sound and gave the band some additional
flexibility. The sound of the band changed a little
more as the tunes on this album ranged from the light
and philosophical to the hard-core, party rock 'n roll.
The incredibly energetic, and rocking title track,
Flight Of The Phoenix,
featured Doug Kershaw on electric fiddle and introduced
us to a "new" Grand Funk Railroad. The hit single was
a song called
Rock & Roll Soul
and, like all other GFR albums, this album went gold
(10/12/72).

1973

With a long string of gold albums to their credit, it
only made sense for the band to release a "real" gold
album. The classic ninth album -- released in 1973 --
was actually pressed into gold-colored vinyl while the
photo inside of the gold-colored album jacket had a
rock-era "first" with the band posing in the nude.
With two exceptions, all previous Grand Funk original
material had been written by Mark Farner. On this
album, Don Brewer started flexing some of his
song-writing muscle -- especially with the hit
single,the classic, all-time popular party song
(and title track)
We're An American Band
which still gets a fair amount of "classic rock" air
play today. And it should come as no surprise that
this gold-colored album, produced by Todd Rundgren,
also went gold for the band (8/21/73 -- Platinum on
12/3/91).

1974

The tenth album produced another innovative cover
design. The album cover for the 1974 release of
Shinin' On
had a pseudo-psychedelic design on it that was printed
in a red and green, three-dimensional pattern. The
album even included a pair of 3-D glasses that you
could use to get the full effect of the graphic design.
This album continued in the heavy rock 'n roll
tradition with some interesting production effects
(again from Todd Rundgren) and gave way to two hit
singles. One, a cover of Little Eva's
The Loco-Motion,
and (the title track)
Shinin' On.
And, yes, the album went gold (3/29/74).

At the presentation ceremony, Mark, Don, Mel, and Craig
received more than a gold record for
Shinin' On
and their hit single
The Loco-Motion,
they also received an incredible surprise. Capitol
Records had done a little checking, and found
Shinin' On
had not only qualified as a
gold
LP for selling a million
dollars'
worth of vinyl, but also as a
platinum
LP after selling over 1,200,000
copies
(and they did this within eight weeks of release!). A
little further digging showed that, in fact, all of the
band's LPs had by then been marketed to over a million
turntables. The surprise followed as a curtain was
drawn back to reveal the biggest award ever collected
by a rock band -- 33 platinum albums. There were ten
each for Don, Mark, and Mel and three for Craig Frost.

The eleventh album was released late in 1974 and was
given the title
All The Girls In The World Beware!!!
This album signaled another shift in direction for
Grand Funk as they seemed to be aiming their music at
a more popular, top-40 type of audience. Even the
album cover seemed to indicate a change with an
interesting juxtaposition of the heads of the band
members atop the bodies of body-builders Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbo. Two hit singles
were produced from the LP's tracks. One, a cover of
a song called
Some Kind Of Wonderful,
and another entitled
Bad Time.
This record produced yet another gold album for the
band -- unfortunately, it was the last record to turn
gold (12/18/74).

1975

1975 saw the release of another double live album. The
twelfth album,
Caught In The Act,
was released to, yet again, show the power of a live
Grand Funk performance. Still a popular album to this
day, the second to be released in CD format by Capitol,
it showcased most all of the band's more popular hit
singles and a couple of the latter-day concert
favorites. The only drawback to this otherwise
excellent live set is the unfortunate break in the segue
between
Closer To Home
and
Heartbreaker
which was also retained on the CD. There was no hit
single from the album and the record failed to turn
gold.

1976

The last album on the
Capitol label, the band's thirteenth album, was called
Born To Die
and was released in 1976. This album was interestingly
different from a couple different perspectives. First,
was the thought-provoking cover design which showed
all four band members in open caskets (there have been
all sorts of rumors as to the actual meaning of the
graphics). Second, the style of the music seemed to
shift again. Drifting away from the top-40 orientation
back to a more rock-like feeling -- the music had other
differences which seemd hard to pin down. And then
there was the fan response: depending on who you
talked to they either loved it or they hated it -- an
interesting dichotomy. This album also failed to
produce a hit single, did not go gold, and Grand Funk
Railroad's popularity appeared to be on the decline.

In an attempt to pull themselves up from their downward
slide, the band switched to MCA records in 1976 and had
Frank Zappa produce their last album entitled
Good Singin', Good Playin'.
The record was of excellent quality, showed some
great musicianship, and was very well produced but it
failed to produce that needed hit song, the album did
not go gold and, shortly after its release, Grand Funk
Railroad derailed and the band broke up.